Fernandes informed the fans via another of his public twitter updates by saying, “Deal lost on west ham. Hopefully new owners protect what's good. We gave awesome deal and new ideas to rejuvenate a club and bring excitement” (sic).
Fernandes’ public withdrawal leaves former Birmingham City owners David Sullivan & David Gold as clear favourites to complete a deal today. Their offer is said to be worth around £100 million for half of club, whilst they are agreeing to take on the clubs reported debts of around £38 million.
The long running takeover saga has been a cause for concern for manager Gianfranco Zola and a victory for Gold & Sullivan will not necessarily make things any easier. The new owners are not however, expected to sack Zola immediately, as reported by a number of media outlets yesterday. It is understood that they will back Zola by giving him a much needed cash injection in order to buy some reinforcements to his young squad.